Demon, page 14
Chairs scraped back as they got to their feet. No one seemed to notice or think it odd that Cole, LD, Sax, and Oz hadn't moved. I assumed that they had updates for me that they didn’t want to share with the rest of our brothers. Bull was the last one through the door, and he pulled it closed behind him.
"What's up?"
Cole sat forward, linking his hands on the desk top. "Found out where Bull was the day of the attack. He was at a nursing home in Wells visiting a relative. In fact, he goes there often."
I'd forgotten that Bull had an uncle he was close to in Wells. Hadn't known he was in a nursing home, though. That must be a recent change, and explained why Bull had been gone from the clubhouse more often than usual lately.
Oz backed up Cole's findings. "And before you suggest that that doesn't let him off the hook, I checked out his GPS history for the last year. There's nothing to indicate he's gone anywhere suspicious."
"Never suspected Bull, but I'm glad we can take him off the list. What about Reid and Junior?"
Oz released a telling breath. "I had to reset Reid's GPS. Apparently there was a glitch with the system and some of his navigation routes weren't recorded."
I didn't like the sound of that. "How the fuck does that happen?" I frowned.
Oz shrugged. "It doesn't, that I know of."
"Is there a way he could have erased the information?" LD asked sharply.
"I've never done it, but there's a way to get around almost everything."
"Fuck. He'll stay on the list. What about Junior?"
Oz's brows shot up, his expression revealing that I wasn't going to like his answer.
"At first I didn't see anything out of the ordinary until I took a closer look at the dates and times. The only times recorded were club related."
The room grew silent for a moment, and it didn't take me long to figure out that that meant Junior had been using another form of transportation to get around. And why the fuck would he do that? The only time any of us didn't ride our bikes were the rare times that we needed to use a cage. I knew that some of the brothers had personal vehicles because, shit, they had families, but Junior was single and he lived at the clubhouse.
"Any of our cages—"
"Already checked, brother," Oz said, cutting LD off.
Cole released a harsh breath. "Fuck."
That was an understatement.
Chapter 17
Bobbie
I decided to stay at the clubhouse for a little while longer. In spite of my misgivings and my fear of being hurt again, I wanted to see where this thing with Demon was going, how serious he was. I knew that relationships often started out being sexual, and that there was still a chance that something more could develop between us. I refused to think that this was all we'd ever have. I loved the asshole, now more than ever, and I was going to fight for us.
Make him see that I would be a good old lady.
I knew that it wouldn't happen overnight. Demon was resisting the idea of "us". Staying wouldn't mean that I would give up my apartment in Pahrump, though. It was too soon to be thinking about putting my crap in storage. I did want my car, though. There was no way I was going to limit myself to just staying in the clubhouse. This made me consider what my status was. No one lived at the clubhouse for free. Demon expected everyone to contribute in some way.
I stepped out of the shower, realizing as I reached for a towel that I didn't have any clothes in Demon’s room. Shit. I should have thought of that before I’d taken a shower. I dried myself off and then wrapped the towel around me, tucking it in between my breasts before stepping out into his bedroom and looking around the room.
The condition of the bed brought a smile to my face. We'd had a wild night there, one I wouldn't mind repeating. Demon had been a surprisingly attentive lover, and not one who only cared about getting himself off. Pleasant tingles ran through my body as I remembered all the times he'd wrung intense, breath-stealing orgasms from me. Too many to keep count.
Of course, he'd had a lot of practice.
He'd left me with the feeling that we were going to be exclusive. I knew that I couldn't or wouldn't share him with anyone else. That wasn't my style, and it would hurt too fucking much. Sharing was for the club sluts, they didn't mind. If Demon thought that he was going to have his cake and eat it too, then he didn't know me. I wouldn't hesitate to leave again, after I crushed his unfaithful cock.
I didn't see a closet in the bedroom, but a dresser drew my eye. I was sure I'd find something I could borrow until I got to my room. I yanked out a pair of sweats, knowing immediately that Demon had never worn them because they still had the tags on. Giggling, I slipped into them. One of his Desert Rebels t-shirts was next. I glanced at myself in the mirror, giggling some more. I was swimming in his clothes, like a little girl playing dress-up. What made it look even worse were the heels I slipped my feet into.
I was still laughing when I opened the door, coming face to face with Demon. "Oh!" I came to an abrupt stop.
"What the hell you laughing at, baby?" His gaze zipped down my ridiculous attire as he crowded me against the doorframe.
"My appearance," I smiled, watching his sexy grin moving closer. My heart jumped with anticipation.
Demon's arms came up on either side of me, trapping me. He slowly lowered his face and brushed his mouth lightly over mine. "You look edible to me."
I giggled. "Then you must be desperate."
His growl went straight to my core, and then his mouth closed firmly over mine. What started out soft and sensual turned hard and erotic before it ended. Tongues were involved, and sounds of pleasure revealed the depth of emotion burning through us. A hand dropped to my hip, pulling me against Demon's hard form. I brought my arms up and wrapped them around his neck, savoring the intimate moment. He was the one to slowly pull back. He leaned his forehead against mine, breathing hard.
"You make it hard to think about anything but fucking you," he complained. "And I got shit to do. I'm on my way out."
"Where you going? Crystal's Palace?" I joked.
He stepped back. "As a matter of fact—"
I gasped, my jaw dropping with disbelief.
"Wipe that look off your face, it's not what you think," he said in a hard tone.
I took a deep breath, but it did nothing to calm my growing anger. "And what would I think, Demon? That you spent all night screwing me, and now you're going to spend a day at a brothel? What else do those women offer, huh? Cooking lessons?" I put my hands against his chest and gave a push, but he didn't move.
He dared to grin at my anger?
"I'll tell you why I'm going, but not now. You'll just have to trust that I'm not going there for pussy."
I heard the truth in his voice, and as I glared up at him I could see it on his whiskered face. I'd never known Demon to be dishonest, and he had no reason to lie to me. He also didn't owe me any explanations. We both knew that. What he did was none of my business, and he could have easily pointed that out to me. Instead, he chose to reassure me with an understated promise. I could either let it go or create a bigger problem that would eventually come between us.
"So, does this mean we're exclusive?"
Demon frowned as if the thought hadn't even occurred to him until now. Or maybe it had, and he realized his mistake in admitting he wasn't going to the brothel to fuck someone. As the silence grew, I put my hands on my hips and arched an inquisitive brow.
"Woman, you're testing me," he growled, clearly reluctant to commit to anything.
"It's just a question, Demon," I insisted smartly.
"Will being exclusive make you happy?"
I wanted to shout fuck yes to the moon, but managed to keep my cool. "It will make me very happy." I wasn't ashamed to admit it.
He shook his head and mumbled, "Well, since I've already fucked all the sluts here and you've fucked all my brothers, I guess we can try exclusive."
Did he really think that? He couldn't have been more wrong, and I didn't like him reminding me that he'd been with all the club whores. Some of the images he'd subjected me to would forever be engrained in my memory. Now I was the one shaking my head with disgust. "You're an asshole," I hissed.
"Just stating a fact," he said in defense of himself.
I glared at him, barely holding back from exploding.
He laughed and leaned in to kiss me lightly on my lips before I could stop him. "I got to go. Just wanted to see you before I left." He turned and walked off.
"Fuck you, Demon!" I hollered after his back. I narrowed my eyes against his wide back, wishing they were rays of death and that he would go up in a cloud of smoke. How could I want him like crazy one second, and hate his guts the next? And why was he so sure that I'd whored myself out to his brothers?
Because my title had literally been club whore, that's why. Why wouldn't he think that?
It was clear that we needed to talk when he got back.
I made my way to my room and quickly changed. Demon had said that I was to stay in his room with him, but I wasn't so certain that I wanted to make myself so easily available to him. I left my room, deciding to head downstairs to see if there was any breakfast left. I passed several doors along the way, coming up on one that was slightly ajar. I had planned to walk right past it until I heard Demon's name. I stopped and glanced around nervously to make sure that no one was around, before leaning up against the frame. I made sure to stay out of sight of whoever was in the room, putting my ear toward the crack in the door.
"Demon must be gone." I recognized Tamara's voice. Her comment produced a masculine laugh. "Don't you have work to do today, baby?" The sound of her breathless tone indicated that she and whoever else was in the room were in the middle of something sexual.
A low voice responded to her, but I couldn't make out who it belonged to. "I work when I want to, and right now I'm working at getting off. Demon don't know shit that goes on around here."
"Things will be different when you're president, baby. I can't wait to be your old lady."
"Yeah, sure," the male grunted. Who the hell was he? "We'll be a good team," he added, but neither of his comments sounded very convincing. Tamara was a fool. Whoever he was, he was clearly stringing her along. "Demon should have been here the day the clubhouse blew up. He'd be in hell with the others, and I'd be one step closer to being in charge."
That was cold, and also telling, and I immediately thought of Gage and what the others had suffered through. I covered my mouth with my hand as I realized what I was hearing. Demon was looking for a traitor--was the man with Tamara that person? Or just a disgruntled brother who was voicing what he'd wished had happened that day? I was sure not everyone was on board with how Demon ran his MC, but I knew that he was respected, he'd earned his spot.
"Fuck!" the man grunted, the sounds filling the room suggesting that he'd found his happy ending. Tamara released a series of noises that sounded more like an afterthought than actual pleasure. Mitzi had confessed to me once that all the club sluts had faked it at one time or another.
Some of the guys just want to get off as fast as possible and don't care if we're enjoying ourselves or not, but then there are the others who get off the more noise we make.
"Okay, get off, I got someone to see."
Was that Junior? That made sense, considering that I'd heard that he and Tamara were "a thing". It was also common knowledge that he thought he should be president. He wasn't willing to work for it though.
"It'd better not be another woman—"
I heard a slap and then a small cry. "Listen, bitch, you're a whore." He'd obviously hit Tamara. Nice. "You're job is to keep spreading those legs for my brothers so everything seems normal, and that means I fuck who I want." I could hear him getting dressed. "You do what you're told."
"I almost died that day," she whined in a small voice. What day? The day of the attack? My heart skipped a beat at what I thought she was about to divulge.
"Fuck, bitch!" The change in his tone revealed that his anger was directed at something else. "The fucking door isn't closed!" It was clear that he blamed her for that. It was also clear that he was moving closer to the door.
I was about to be discovered! Even as I finished the panicked thought I was grabbed roughly from behind, and a large hand covered my mouth. I didn't put up much resistance as I found myself being dragged to the nearest door and forced into a room. Before the door even closed I heard the unmistakable sound of another one being slammed shut. Oh, God, that had been close! But I still wasn't out of the woods.
I was abruptly let go. "What the fuck were you doing?"
I spun around to see LD, not sure if I should be relieved or not. His harsh expression revealed an angry, suspicious man. He crossed his massive arms and glared down at me, his jaw clenched. If I didn't know the man I would have been frightened of his look, but I'd never seen LD touch, much less hurt, a woman.
"Eavesdropping, obviously," I sassed back. I still couldn't believe how close I'd come to getting caught.
One eyebrow rose higher than the other, making his expression even fiercer.
"I hadn't planned to listen but I caught Demon's name as I neared the door, and, um, got curious."
"Ever hear ‘curiosity killed the cat?’" he growled in that gritty voice he had.
Yeah, when I'd been about to get caught eavesdropping.
Something flickered in LD's eyes. "Did you hear anything interesting?"
I hesitated long enough for his brows to drop down into a frown. "Yeah, sex noises."
It suddenly occurred to me that I needed to be careful. I didn’t like what I'd heard, but what had I heard, really? The griping of someone who was dissatisfied with his place in the MC? That was nothing new. It was the fact they'd brought up the deadly attack on the club that bothered me most, that, and the ominous tone of the conversation. I'd felt the threat toward Demon. Did LD feel the same way? That Demon shouldn't be president?
LD released a harsh breath. "I heard more than that," he snarled, shooting down my response.
My eyes grew big with concern. How long had he been there, and how much had he heard? Surely if he felt the same way as Junior I'd be dead in a closet somewhere. I scolded myself for overreacting, deciding to go with my gut, and trust that he was loyal to Demon. "I heard Junior tell Tamara that he was going to be president some day."
His set expression didn't waver, and I got the feeling I wasn't telling him anything he didn't already know. "And?"
"Something about Demon not knowing what was going on around here."
A flicker in his eyes turned them as dark as cold coffee. "Go on."
Was it my imagination or did his tone sound deadlier than usual?
"They brought up the attack on the clubhouse. Junior mentioned that Demon should have died that day."
The look on LD's craggy face turned lethal. He'd stopped breathing, everything about him turning hard as granite. I wasn't afraid for me, in fact, I was relieved. His reaction showed me what he felt for Demon, and right now it was clear that he was a loyal brother, that he'd protect his president and give his life for him if he needed to. I breathed a sigh of relief when he began to rub over the stubble on his lower jaw and stepped away from me.
I followed LD with my eyes. "Anything else?" He turned back to me.
I thought back to what I'd heard. "He suggested that Tamara needed to keep fucking the men so that everything appears normal." I shrugged when he kept his eyes pinned on me. "She wants to be Junior's old lady."
A muscle leapt in his jaw. I didn't think that LD could look any more dangerous. He looked like he wanted to kill someone, and he was holding on by a thread. He began to pace back and forth, his fists clenching and unclenching, and I could tell that he was thinking deeply about what I'd told him. Then suddenly he stopped and pinned his burning eyes back on me.
"What are you going to do about what you overheard, Bobbie?" There was suspicion in his tone.
Was LD testing me? I hadn't had time to give any thought to what I was going to do, but I knew one thing--Demon needed to know that he should watch his back. He was looking for the person who'd betrayed the club, and Junior's comments could lead Demon in the right direction."Let Demon know," I finally said, knowing that it was the truth.
LD nodded slowly. "Good girl." There was satisfaction and a little relief in his tone.
"Do you think Junior is the traitor you're looking for?"
For the first time his hard mouth smoothed into a barely-there grin. "Not going to discuss that with you and you know it. Doesn't matter that you're in Demon's bed now."
I rolled my eyes. News traveled fast.
"I don't know how much Demon told you, but keep this shit to yourself. Got me?"
I nodded. "Of course."
"And don't be around Junior alone," he added roughly. "He may have just been spewing shit to Tamara to make himself out to be bigger than he is, but until we know for sure, do not trust him."
I'd never liked Junior, so LD didn't need to worry about that. He moved to the door, stopped, and glanced back at me. "Wait a couple of minutes before you leave."
Once LD was gone I took a look around, wondering whose room I was in. If anyone was using it they kept it immaculate. Maybe it was an extra room used for unexpected company, like the one I'd spent my first night in. I opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, coming face-to-face with Junior.
"Oh!" He'd caught me unaware. I quickly closed the door against my back. "You scared me." I released a nervous laugh. "What are you doing here?"
He had a dirty smirk on his face that I didn't like. "The question is, what are you doing here?" He tried to intimidate me by stepping into my space. "You giving it up to LD, now?"
Well, that explained whose room I'd been in. This time my laugh was genuine. "No. I didn't even know it was his room. Just stepped inside to use the bathroom," I explained, thinking fast.
